Vanderbilt Baseball Shut Out of First-Team All-SEC Honors

You know expectations for Vanderbilt Baseball are pretty high when three Commodores are named to the All-SEC second team and your first reaction is "second team?" Outfielders Bryan Reynolds and Jeren Kendall and starting pitcher Kyle Wright earned spots on the conference's backup team after leading Vandy to a 41-15 regular season in 2016.

Reynolds and Kendall were Vanderbilt's most reliable hitters this spring. Reynolds, the team's venerable veteran, batted .325, got on base at a .455 clip, and led the team in home runs (12) and slugging percentage (.601). Kendall was arguably better, batting .330, leading the 'Dores in RBI (54) and runs scored (56), and stealing 26 bases in 43 attempts. Still, neither could break into the league's stacked top tier in one of the biggest seasons in SEC history. According to D1baseball.com, Southeastern Conference programs made up seven of the nation's top 11 teams this year.

The pair can take solace in the fact that Dansby Swanson, the first overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, was also relegated to the league's second team last season.

Saturday starter Wright made the all-league team over Friday ace Jordan Sheffield after turning into a monster as his sophomore season wore down. Wright developed into this team's slumpbuster after notching huge wins at No. 1 Texas A&M and No. 4 Florida down the stretch. In his last four starts, he scattered five earned runs over 29 innings while striking out 34 and walking only seven batters.

First-year shortstop Connor Kaiser and designated hitter Ethan Paul both earned All-Freshman honors. Sheffield was named to the league's All-Defensive team.

Here are the 2016 awards in full:

2016 SEC Baseball Awards

Player of the Year: Boomer White, Texas A&M

Pitcher of the Year: Logan Shore, Florida

Freshman of the Year: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State

Coach of the Year: John Cohen, Mississippi State

Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Derek Lance, Tennessee

First Team All-SEC

C: Henri Lartigue, Ole Miss

1B: Nathaniel Lowe, Mississippi State

2B: Ryne Birk, Texas A&M

3B: Boomer White, Texas A&M

SS: Kramer Robertson, LSU

OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State

OF: J.B. Woodman, Ole Miss

OF: Gene Cone, South Carolina

*DH/UT: Jack Kruger, Mississippi State

*DH/UT: Bryce Jordan, LSU

SP: Logan Shore, Florida

SP: Dakota Hudson, Mississippi State

RP: Shaun Anderson, Florida

Second Team All-SEC Team

C: Mike Rivera, Florida

*1B: Peter Alonso, Florida

*1B: Evan White, Kentucky

2B: Tate Blackman, Ole Miss

3B: Nick Senzel, Tennessee

SS: Dalton Guthrie, Florida

OF: Anfernee Grier, Auburn

OF: Bryan Reynolds, Vanderbilt

OF: Jeren Kendall, Vanderbilt

DH/UT: Brent Rooker, Mississippi State

SP: Kyle Wright, Vanderbilt

SP: Clarke Schmidt, South Carolina

RP: Mark Ecker, Texas A&M

Freshman All-SEC Team

*C: Chris Cullen, South Carolina

*C: Michael Curry, Georgia

1B: LT Tolbert, South Carolina

2B: Deacon Liput, Florida

3B: Jonathan India, Florida

SS: Connor Kaiser, Vanderbilt

OF: Jake Mangum, Mississippi State

OF: Antoine Duplantis, LSU

OF: Chandler Taylor, Alabama

DH/UT: Ethan Paul, Vanderbilt

SP: Braden Webb, South Carolina

SP: Adam Hill, South Carolina

RP: Sean Hjelle, Kentucky

SEC All-Defensive Team

C: Mike Rivera, Florida

1B: Evan White, Kentucky

*2B: Cole Freeman, LSU

*2B: Ryne Birk, Texas A&M

3B: Nick Senzel, Tennessee

SS: Dalton Guthrie, Florida

OF: Buddy Reed, Florida

OF: Anfernee Grier, Auburn

OF: J.B. Woodman, Ole Miss

*P: Jordan Sheffield, Vanderbilt

*P: Kyle Simonds, Texas A&M

*P: Dustin Beggs, Kentucky

* - Denotes a tie in voting. Ties are not broken.